Welcome to Mass Effect
by redkiller87
Summary: I was just going to play a simple game of Mass Effect, and I ended up inside the Mass Effect universe (My attempt at a SI)
1. Chapter 1

Ok I decided to take a break from my other story and try my hand at an SI. For those of you who don't know, SI stands for Self Insert, meaning I'm going to insert myself into the game. So please enjoy, and leave comments and feedback.

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The weekend.

The blessed 2 days every kid and teenager waits for. Well, most kids. My weekend usually consists of going into my house, doing chores and playing games. I usually play RPG games like Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls and sometimes Fallout. And today would be no different, the moment the dishwasher door slammed closed I darted to my room, plopped down into my chair, Xbox remote in hand and started up Mass Effect. When the screen came up, I saw a button on the title screen I had never seen before. It said, begin virtual game. I scrolled down to it and pressed A. Suddenly, everything got dark and the ring on my Xbox turned red and started spinning. Sparks flew from the edges and the ring spun faster and faster, the remote was vibrating in my hands, then I saw nothing. After what seemed like hours, light pecked at my eyes and wind rushed on my back. It felt like I was falling, and after a moment I realized I was falling. I screamed my lungs off and spun around.

The ground was approaching rapidly, so I spread my arms and legs to look like an X, just like you'd do when you're jumping out of a plane. When I hit the ground, the air was rushed out of my lungs and my right arm hurt like crap, but that was it. I didn't hurt nearly as bad as I should have and for that matter, as far as I knew, I was still alive. I chuckle slightly and try to stand. I'm able to sluggishly stand and survey my surroundings. I was near a big strange pillar thing that emanated green slightly and had a green beam of light shooting out its top, standing on a metal platform that overlooked ruins and dug out areas.

That was when it hit me. I was on Eden Prime. In Mass Effect, which means that I'm by the Prothean beacon, and that means that Saren and the geth are going to be here soon. So I approached the beacon, and suddenly I start getting pulled towards it. It starts glowing and the green light consumes my vision, my head starts to hurt and images pop up in my mind. First, I see a city of sprawling skyscrapers. Then, I see roots and plants covering a large, metallic door. Then, I see the citadel and after, some metal thing with six legs, which I guess is probably a reapers underside. Then, people running and killed and then absorbed. Finally I see a star that zooms out and there's a planet, then zooms out more and I see a reaper. Then nothing, I see blackness. When I open my eyes I see a giant squid falling from the sky. It lands near and I scramble to my feet to hide behind some crates, remembering that Saren can ride inside of the reaper, Sovereign. Once behind the crate, I stay there and watch as Saren and many geth walk down the stairs.

"Set the charges. Destroy the entire colony. Leave no evidence we were here." He ordered one of the geth, and approached the beacon. The same thing that happened to me happened to him, but unlike me his mind handled it and he didn't pass out. Afterwards he jumped down the railing, and I watched the ant shaped geth dropship fly off with Saren hopping inside, and the geth also dispersed, two coming back dragging a purple, metal device and each carrying an unconscious colonist. Once they were satisfied were they placed them, they laid a colonist on it, and pressed a button, causing a spike to go through them and forcing their body's to the air, I remembered that they were called Dragons Teeth, and let me say, the games make them look less gruesome, blood was still squirting out of them as they went up. Seconds later I heard gunshots, and the geth spun around to face the newcomers. One goes down and flings back towards me. It bangs into the crates and the one I was leaning against moves slightly. I peek my head around the cover and see the geth is still clinging to its rifle, and the other geth had Shepard and the others pinned, with two husks coming down from the metal devices on both ends of the platform.

I realized it was now or never that I reveal myself, so I pop out from behind the crate and grab the geth pulse rifle. I bend down onto one knee and my arm hurts like hell as I aim it at the geth's head thing. I then fire. The rifle thuds on my shoulder and causes my arm to hurt like hell, but for my trouble, a bolt of blue plasma leaves the gun, and impacts the geth, melting its head. Ignoring the pain, I aim it at the nearest husk and hold down the trigger, releasing ten bolts of plasma, and causing my arm to become useless, but killing the husk in the process. I drop the gun and grasp my arm and double over slightly while clenching my teeth just as Shepard finishes up the other husk.

I look up and see the other guy with Shepard was running towards me, I assumed it was Kaiden. When he was close enough, I confirmed my suspicion, it indeed was Kaiden, but he was wearing his helmet. He approached me, his Omni-tool active and scanned the arm I was clutching,

"Can I get your name please," he asked, not looking into my eyes, just simply scanning my arm.

"It's David ******, and I can go ahead and tell you it's broken," I inform him, he gives a slight chuckle and waves his Omni-tool. Then the severe pain in my arm numbs to a slight one.

"There we go, I just administered some Medigel, just numb the pain until we get aboard the ship," his Omni-tool dissipates, and he stands straight then he offers his hand to help me up, which I accept immediately. I give a simple thank you and look behind him as Ashley approached the Beacon. The moment it started grabbing her, Shepard went into action. He rand from where he was standing, jumped into the beam of the Beacon, grabbed Ashley and spun around with her in his arms. Then threw her out of the beam, the Beacon then spun him around and raised him in the air, Ashley tried to get up and grab him, but me and Kaiden kept her down as Shepard floated a good foot in the air.

"Shepard!"Ashley screamed,

"No! Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!" Kaiden yelled back at her. Suddenly, the Beacon exploded and Shepard fell to the ground, as I was about to speak, a chunk of the Beacon slammed into my head, knocking me unconscious.

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There we go! Story created, and I have decided that certain OC's from my other story will come join this one if I cant find room for them in that story's plot. Also, I had no idea how to explain the landscape of Eden Prime, so if someone could please tell me how to, it would be much appreciated.

Omni-tool- A holographic, wrist mounted computer like gauntlet.

Medigel- A gel used to (I think) numb pain, and heal minor injuries.

Geth- A race of intelligent synthetic robots created as a work force for the Quarian people 300 years before the Mass Effect plot.


	2. Chapter 2

All right Chapter 2! Hope you people enjoy. And as always, please leave feedback and ways for me to improve

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All I could feel was pain in my head. I groan and rub the bump that had formed on my head. I opened my eyes and attempted to adjust to the fluorescent light. It takes a few seconds, but when I do adjust, I realize that I was in the Normandy's med-bay. Lying on a bed next to Commander Shepard, who was still unconscious. I throw my legs over the side of the bed, and stretch my arms. My right arm, which was the broken one, didn't hurt so I assumed that the Normandy's doctor, Dr. Chakwas, did her magic and fixed it.

After stretching I stand up, and as I head for the door, both Dr. Chakwas and Ashley step through.

"Ah, hello Mr. ******, I see your up and about," the good doctor says with a grin, while Ashley is frowning and doesn't even acknowledge me. So I grin back at the doctor, and offer my hand for her to shake,

"hello doctor, I believe it is you I can thank for having a nonbroken arm, and please, its just David. Might I ask who you are," she then takes my hand and says,

"I'm Dr. Karin Chakwas, and the young lady over there is Ashley Williams, "the doctor smiled and stepped back to activate her Omni-tool. "Well David, I'd like to get a scan of you and compare your health with previous medical files, just to update the medical files. If you would please stand still for a moment." At this I was freaking out in my head. The last time my medical files were accessed was over 100 years ago. I highly doubt that she won't notice that. I need a way to distract her, until I can find someone to fabricate a backstory for myself. Thankfully I get said excuse when Shepard starts to move.

"Doctor, Dr. Chakwas, I think he's waking up," Ashley yells. Shepard sits up and does basically the same thing I did except he didn't feel the need to stretch his arms, he then look around the room. The good doctor deactivates her Omni-tool and walks over to Shepards bed,

"You had us worried there Shepard, how do you feel" she asks, concern clear in her voice. I stand back beside Ashley, relieved that Chakwas had lost interest in searching my background. Shepard rubbed his eyes, struggling, most likely, to adjust to the lighting.

"Minor throbbing. Nothing serious. How long was I out?"

About fifteen hours. Something happened down there, with the beacon, I think,"

Ashley is frowning and has a guilty look on her face,

"It's my fault, I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You had to push me out of the way," Ashley says, flushed slightly red in embarrassment. Shepard looks back at her and notices this as well, so he then tries to ease her guilt somewhat by saying

"You had no way to know what would happen," and with that, the frown disappears and is replaced with a small grin.

"Actually we don't know what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out" the doctor says, a clear look of dissatisfaction on her face, I decide now would be a good time to but in.

"You see commander, the beacon kind of blew up after you used it. I must ask, did you have any visions while it held you suspended in the air," he looks confused at me, and I realize that he doesn't even know my name. "You know, I think that piece of rock hit something vital, it seems I keep forgetting to introduce myself," I say and take a step towards Shepard, my hand outstretched. "My names David ******, I've studied prothean tech for awhile, and that was one of the few rare pieces that still worked, I was on Eden Prime studying the beacon when the geth came," I say, making a lie so that my presence on the planet was known. Shepard just stares at me for a second, his blue eyes peering into mine, trying gauge me I guess, the doctor clears her throat, and we both look at her, she looks at Shepard again

"Physically you're fine, but I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves," she starts and Shepard stands, and looks at her, but not before giving me a glare that promised he'd speak to me after all this, the doctor doesn't notice and Ashley was looking at her Omni-tool. I sigh, **_I just meet Shepard and he already doesn't trust me._** "I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming." The doctor added, arms crossed and waiting for an explanation. Sheppard's face immediately droops, like it's a great burden to think,

"I saw—I'm not sure what I saw. Death. Destruction. Nothing's really clear." Shepard closes his eyes for a second, trying to piece together what he saw most likely. I feel bad for him. I mean I played the game, I already know what the images mean. But he hasn't. He needs the cipher to figure out what the images mean. The doctor looks worried and Ashley has a confused look on her face, while I have gone to stand by the door, seeing how at any moment, Captain Anderson is going to walk in and I'll have to leave so Shepard can debrief him, the doctor breaks out of her deep thought, and is typing away on her Omni-tool,

"Hmmm, I better add this to my report. It may—Oh, Captain Anderson," the door next to me slides open and the captain walks in.

"How's our XO holding up, Doctor?" he asks looking over Shepard. At this moment I take my chance and leave the med-bay, I already knew that the doctor says he's fine and then he asks them to leave, so I figured I could go ahead and leave early. It sounded like the doctor was about to give her response, when the door closed behind me and locked itself, so that people can leave but not enter. I look around the area that serves as the crew deck, and realize that it's slightly larger than in the game, with a door right across from the elevator, and there were multiple mess tables in the center of the room. The hall with the sleeper pods looked longer and had more pods as well. I decide that I'd try to get something to eat, so I walk over to where Kaiden was leaning against a fridge like thing, assuming that's where the food was. Stepping over to him I wave him over,

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced Mr….." he asks, stretching his hand out. I accept it and respond simply" my names David, nice to meet you," he nods and says his names Kaiden, he offers me a plate with a burger on it. I accept it eagerly, and begin eating it vigorously. As I'm eating, he doesn't try to talk with me, instead he grabs another plate and starts eating it himself. **_I had forgotten he was a biotic and therefore needed a lot of calories to use them, I also forgot he doesn't like talking. Well not for Shepard but that's different. _**A couple minutes later, both Ashley and Dr. Chakwas step out of the med-bay. Chakwas goes towards the sleeper pods, and Ashley goes and stands by the backside of the elevator. I continue eating my burger until Anderson and Shepard walk out, I then move to stop Anderson before he can get into his room.

"Excuse me, Captain, I have a question for you," I say when I stop him. Anderson turns around and looks expectantly at me. "Well you see sir, I'm just a researcher that knows more than he should, so I was wondering if you could tell me why I'm on the top secret that vessel that the Alliance and Hierarchy have been working on for months, and not in some hospital in the middle of nowhere" The Captain looks at me for a second then smiles.

"Well it's because we couldn't just leave you there and, as you said, you're somebody that knows more than most. You see, when the doctor did a scan of your brain, she noticed the same unusual brain waves that Commander Shepard had, only your brain waves were not as active. I assume that means you have the same knowledge as him, if not more. So I'm going to ask that you stay on the Normandy until this whole ordeal is sorted out, seeing as you could be an asset. And from the report that the ground team gave me, you managed to take down a geth and husk creature with a broken arm, and from the way your dressed, I'd guess you're not a security guard with a lot of combat training," I was shocked. Most of the self inserts I've read make it sound harder to get on the Normandy, but I was already on the ship and I didn't have to prove my worth or any of that crap. Just had to follow my good ol' human nature. "Now if that's all, I'll be going." And with that I was on the SSV Normandy SR-1.

After I went back to the mess and finished my burger, I waved bye to Kaiden, who was slowly making a mountain of plates next to him, and headed towards Ashley. I figure I should get to meet all the key characters, seeing how I'll be serving on the ship with them. As I approached her, I noticed she was in a daze, staring into nothingness, like she was daydreaming. Which means her talk with Shepard was to her liking.

"Uh… excuse me miss," I say, attempting to snap her back into reality. She shakes her head, and looks surprised. "I'm new on the Normandy and figured I'd meet the people who saved me on Eden Prime. My names David ******," I stretch my hand out for her to shake. She takes it hesitantly,

"My names Ashley, Ashley Williams, you're the one from the beacon right. The one that got us out of that jam, with the geth and husk," I nod my head and smile, she smiled back, "you know, I took you for a civilian at first, but the way you handled that geth and husk with a broken arm. Only two possibilities I can think of. You're either a paranoid scientist, or an ex-military type doing security, I just shake my head which causes her to frown.

"I'm neither, just a researcher who had to think on his feet," I reply with a wink. She just frowns and I leave her to try to process our conversation, so I head for the elevator so I could introduce myself to Adams. But as I step in, Shepard jumps in and stops the elevator as it starts going down. **_Oh crap_.** He looks at me as I lean against the railing in the back of the elevator.

"Is there a problem Commander," I ask, trying not to sound nervous or scared. Generally most people that piss of Shepard, don't leave without scars.

"I was just informed that you used the beacon as well and are going to be staying with us here on the Normandy. And was wondering if you could tell me what you saw. I'm trying to piece together what it was, but the beacons gone, so no one can study it. In other words, only three people have the info from the beacon. You, me, and a turian who tried to destroy a colony with his army of geth." I look at Shepard. That was not at all what I was expecting. I try and decide if I should go out and just explain what we saw, or if I should give him a vague response. I release I sigh, and go with my own version of the paragon option from the game.

"You know Shepard, I really don't know what I saw. It was so quick. A bunch of quick images and flashes," I pause for a moment to think how I should continue, "I saw what I could only describe as a warning. I saw organics get slaughtered by synthetics of the like I've never seen. I saw people pushing each other out of the way, running and screaming just to escape." I finish. Shepard looks at me. He walks towards me and held out his hand,

"Welcome to the team David, hopefully between the two of us we'll piece together what that warning was." And with that, he restarts the elevator, and we both go down to the shuttle bay. On the outside I'm keeping my composure just barely, but on the inside I was excited and wanting to jump up and down. **_Oh my god, I just became a friend of Commander Shepard's._**


	3. Chapter 3

I was still a little giddy after the whole incident. I mean, how many people could say that they not only met Commander Shepard, but also befriended him. I suddenly felt a clawing at the back of my head, and heard a whisper race around in my head. I wrap my arms around my head as images once again race around in my head. I shut my eyes in an attempt to shut them out and I can hear Shepard say something, but can't make any since of it. All my attention was on the pain that roared in my mind.

I saw people running in terror. Running from an armored figure that glowed a dark red. Fire was all around him, consuming those who didn't run fast enough to escape them. I saw human man attempt to drag a female out from rubble. But the armored figure outstretched his hand, and the red aura encased around the man. The figure closed his fist, and you could hear the man he held in the air's bones crunch and crack. The aura disappeared, and the man fell to the ground limply. The armor clad figure opened his eyes. They glowed the same color red then, stopped. The fire that once consumed all who were near vanished. It was then that I saw his face. The figure was a Caucasian man with blue eyes and brown ragged hair. It wasn't the fact that he had just killed hundreds or the fact that the red aura was once again surrounded him. It was the fact that, besides the scar that traced down his right cheek, his face was mine.

The visions stop, and the pain retreats completely. But I felt dizzy and nauseas. I open my eyes and see the blurry figure of Shepard. He was speaking into his omni-tool, and repeatedly glanced at me. I tried to speak, but I couldn't muster the strength to move my mouth. I look down at my hands and they were glowing red, then they changed to a light blue. I feel my knees about to give. My head was clearing, and felt wind rush by me as I fell towards the floor of the elevator and eventually blacked out.

When I open my eye again, I realize that I wasn't on any part of the Normandy or my home, but in a large white area with two figures in front of me, both bearing the armor from my vision, and both also bearing my face. The only noticeable differences between the two were that one glowed a cool, light blue and looked identical to me. While the other glowed fiery red, and was the spitting image of the figure from my vision. Whispers were heard all around me, till Shepard himself manifested beside me.

"Do not be alarmed at what you see," he says, his voice sounding echoing with others. "The two you see before you, are two choices," he adds, stepping forward to stand in between the two me's. "The one on my right will transform you into a ruthless killer that doesn't do anything by the book," he says, gesturing to the one glowing red. "The one on my left will transform you into a hero, one that all look up to, "he says, gesturing to the one glowing blue. "The choice is yours. Whichever you chose will be how all perceive you. But, you must choose wisely, for the wrong choice will affect all around you." He says his voice everywhere but nowhere. Shepard takes a step forward and stands directly in front of me. I still was having trouble processing all this, and 'Shepard' seemed to notice. "Do you have questions"?

I stare at it for a second before taking a deep breath; go over what I know in my head. _Ok let's see, first the vision on the elevator. Then I remember I blacked out. Now I'm here and this… thing wants me to choose a version of me. Uhh… is it bad that this isn't the weirdest thing to happen to me._

"For organics, I assume the answer would be yes," the Shepard says, startling me and causing me to visibly jump.

"How did you…"

"Read your thoughts? The organic mind is much simpler to understand than synthetics, like myself." The Shepard transforms itself into geth unit. "I will make my form something your mind can comprehend easily." I was taken aback for a second, but regain my composure quickly.

"Ok, first question, what are you?"

Shepards POV

The moment David hit the floor, I screamed into my omni-tool to get a medical team in the shuttle bay. I get an affirmative and move quickly to David's unconscious form. I do a quick scan of him with my omni-tool, to see if it could attempt to find out what was happening. After it beeps twice to notify failure, I curse under my breath. I move my hand over his mouth and feel him barely suck in air. The elevator door slid open and a medical team rushed in. One medic reached into his lab coat pocket and pull out a syringe with a blue liquid in it. He lifted David's head and injected it into his neck.

"Anti-toxin is in his system, Commander can you get this thing up to the crew deck, he needs the equipment we have in the med bay," I complies hand practically hits the button to go up. The ride takes what seems like hours, but in reality was a few minutes. When the door opened, the group inside was greeted by and more medics.

As they all walked in with David on a stretcher, Shepard felt a growing feeling of dread spread in his gut. **_Ignore it, he'll be fine. Besides, Chakwas is with him._** And with that I bound up the stairs and headed towards the bridge.

David's POV

The geth stared at me for a second, and then the surroundings changed. They were now in a ruined city; skeletons of various races were strewn about. Buildings slowly crumbled. I look up into the sky and see something that makes my stomach turn to lead and the hairs on my neck stand tall. Flying overhead were metal squid things, in other words, Reapers. A disturbance of the rubble catches my attention. I spin my head around to see a robot shaped slightly humanoid but had a hovered without legs. Slowly more poured out from the rubble and soon hundreds surrounded me.

The geth unit appears in front of me and turns its head to look at me.

"100,000 years ago, the Reapers came. They reprogrammed the synthetics around you to attack our own creators. Eventually, all that was left of our creators were bones and dust. It was around then that our original programming returned and the Reapers left our systems," the surroundings around us changed and the robots were gone, instead both I and the geth were standing on the Citadel. "What was left of our consensus decided to try and rebuild our creator's image. We travelled far and wide, looking for any and all scraps of DNA they left behind, and brought it back to the Citadel, which was were our creators were just perfecting cloning technology. We decided that we would recreate our creators from the remains of the ones destroyed. But unfortunately, the Reapers disconnected the power from where the cloning tech was located. So we made a final decision. We sealed the door to the chamber shut, with the help of the keepers, and sacrificed our unit's power supplies and platforms, to run a single cloning process," the surrounding changed to a room, littered with the bodies of the robots and surrounded a pod that looked similar to the tank that Grunt was in. A single one was active, but just barely. It was then that I noticed the geth was gone and the single unit was floating towards me. "As you can see, my power is running low, but thankfully, the cloning is finally complete. You are our people's last hope. Only you can save the last of our kind," and with that the surroundings changed back to the white area. Shepard was back to standing in between the two me's.

"Ok, next, why are you giving me these options,"

"because, if memory serves me, you have no identity here, and that could be a problem when you're going after the cloning unit. I'm afraid you have to make your choice now; my presence here is draining power from my systems. The connection is becoming unstable." I practically run towards the good me, just as the white room starts to shake, and Shepard was starting to glitch. "Choice made… you will receive knowledge of how to find the pod when I have enough power to contact you again."

My mind started hurting again, and I feel power rush through me, and memories from a life I never had, rushed into my head. I see a prefab house, and farmland. Then I watch alien ships descend out of the sky, Batarians walk out and start ransacking the colony. **_Mindoir. That means I have a colonist background._** Then the ships leave, not noticing me hiding under the floor of a prefab unit. A Kodiak shuttle lands nearby and several soldiers rush out and carry me to the shuttle. Then I see a class teaching about a strange alien language. Then I see artifacts, and a beacon. I see the same vision from Eden Prime. Then I'm in a conference, several men and women standing next to me. A man dressed in a military uniform, and pinning a medal onto my chest. It had an N7 on it and we give a crisp salute to the military man which he returns. Then I see a ship crash, me walking away, armor in tatters. Then my move to Eden Prime. Finally I saw blackness.

I open my eyes again, and the same as before I saw the fluorescent light and steel ceiling.

"I am amazed at your recovery time, most people who have a hemorrhage like that are usually still unconscious," A female voice say's. I spin my head to see skimming through her omni-tool. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head as I attempt to sit up. I grimace and lay back down. walks up to the bed, an obvious look of displeasure on her face. "You know, it's hard treating someone with so much black ink in there file, but I've dealt with worse. It says here that you're an N7 operative-"I cut her off and look at the ground. **_Looks like it's a good thing I have acting skills._** I look back up at her a look of anger on my face.

"I used to be an N7, but not anymore, I unofficially left after a mission went, and if you want anything else, I'm sorry but I don't intend to give anymore." Her face softened at that, and she didn't press any further. She gives me a data pad and tells me to confirm the data on it. I nod and she say's I was clear to leave. I walk back out and walk up the stairs to go ahead and disembark the Normandy, seeing how we must have docked at the Citadel. I walk past the galaxy map, getting a few confused looks as I pass. I walk out the airlock and enter the docking bay of the Citadel. I step out and turn to the right and enter the elevator. I take it down to the Csec academy. As I step out I ask around if anyone had seen Shepard. After a half hour, a turian said that a human had come down here with two other humans and a turian came by and took wrex and left saying something about Chora's den. I rush out of the Csec academy Into the wards, running as fast as I can to get to Chora's den. I know it goes well but I want to see if I can at least meet up with evryone. As I near the entrance I realize that I'm not only unarmored but also unarmed. I stand outside the entrance for a moment, before I see a turian walk through the door to the back alley. Realizing that was the assassin, I run through the door and watch him approach a Quarian, whose standing near a crate with two armored Salarians watching her discreetly.

I run down the stairs, moving as quietly as possibly. The assassin approaches her and about five minutes in their conversation, she throws a grenade at the salarians and is thrown into the crate by her. The grenade explodes, killing them both the turian was unscathed. He was walking towards the Quarian who was desperately scrambling away. I jump out from behind my cover and jump onto the Turians back. I wrap my arms around his neck and attempt to choke him, but he flings me over and sends me flying. Realizing I was more of a threat than the little Quarian, he moves towards me. As he tries to punch me, I roll out of the way and jump to my feet, assuming a boxing stance. He did the same and we circled each other. Eventually he got tired of it and runs towards me. He throws a punch that I block and send a kick to his torso. My attack connects and causes him to stumble back slightly. I take advantage of this and throw a punch at his face, sending him to the ground. I put my knee on his head and wrap my hands around his throat. He scratches and punches me, but I don't release any slack and eventually he stops and falls unconscious.

I give a sigh of relief, and take in a deep breath. **_Ok. No idea how I managed that but I'm most certantly not complaining._** I stand and turn towards Tali, who has a shotgun trained on me. I raise my hands as a sign of surrender.

"I'm not your enemy. Names David ******, and I'm with Commander Shepard. And you are…" I say, lowering my arms as she lowers her shotgun.

"My names Tal'Zorah nar' Rayya." I stretch my hand out to her, and she just stairs at it. I chuckle slightly, and tell her to shake it. She complies just as the door to the back alley opened. Before turning to see who it was, I roll backwards and grab one of the Salarians pistol. I trained it on the newcomers who aimed their guns at me. Tali had backed towards me and had her shotgun aimed at them. When Shepard walked into the light, I slapped myself, realizing that she was supposed to be here. Tali eyes me curiously. I holster the pistol and sigh.

"Shepard, can you get any slower," I say, approaching him. He lowers his weapon and signals the others to as well, Tali lowers hers seeing that I know him.

"You know this human Shepard?" a deep rumbling voice said. I turned my head to the source and mentally piss my pants. There standing next to Shepard, was a scarred and scary warrior named Wrex. Krogans were scary enough in the game, but in real life, he makes me want to lock myself in a closet and pray he doesn't find me.

Shepard nods and approaches me.

"Good to see you David, didn't expect to find you down here," she says. I grin and cross my arms,

"well you know, I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by," he chuckles and shakes my hand, the nonhuman crew members were confused by my response. Shepard looks at the bodies behind me, and gives me a questioning look. I turn around and sit on the would-be assassin. "Well, I heard that you guys were heading to Chora's Den, and made my way there, that's when I noticed this scumbag walking into the alley with a shotgun on his back and decided to see what he was up to. When he attacked our Quarian friend here, I jumped out and attacked him." I finish. Garrus gives me a look that says he doesn't believe me.

"That's not possible, all Turians have combat training, and from what I heard you're just a civilian"

"I don't recall saying I was a civilian," Both me and Garrus glare at each other with Wrex chuckling. Shepard gets in between the two of us,

"Can it you two. We have bigger problems right now," Garrus shot me a look of hostility, but followed orders. Shepard turned towards Tali. "Are you Tali," the young Quarian girl nods in response. "Mind if I ask why you're out here." Tali crosses her arms and looked pissed, though it was impossible to tell through the mask.

"Fist set me up, that Bosh'tet!"

"Don't worry about him, we already took care of him. But he did say you had information about Saren you were going to give to the Shadow Broker?" Tali's expression changed, and she relaxed.

"Then I have a way to repay you, but not here, we need to go to someplace more secure," I stand and jump into the conversation.

"How about the ambassador's office," Shepard put a hand on his chin and thought. He snapped his fingers,

"good idea, besides he'll want to hear this anyway. David, I take it you're following." I nod in response and follow him and the others up the stairs, Garrus glared at me the whole way.


	4. Chapter 4

The ride to Udina's office was rather awkward for me. Shepard had activated a rapid transit terminal and we were currently riding in a sky car. It was rather cramped with the 7 of us in it. Not to mention I was sitting in between both Wrex and Garrus, who were considerably larger than the human squad mates and Tali.

Garrus glared at me throughout the whole ride. I turn my head to look at him, but he promptly spins his head to the window, attempting to not look suspicious. Tali, who was sitting across from me, looked rather uncomfortable and was wringing her hands together. Wrex just looked bored and kept checking his shotgun. Kaiden and Ashley both looked sick while watching Shepard maneuver through the traffic. That was the one reason I was glad to be sitting back here. While you could still feel the rapid jerks and turns, they were not as bad as actually seeing the traffic race towards you.

After ten minutes of hell with Shepard driving, we arrived at the embassy. As we disembarked, Ashley and Kaiden practically jumped out of the sky car, with Shepard grinning. I jump out and stretch my arms. I feel someone tug on my shoulder and see that Garrus is standing beside me.

"I want to know, are you a soldier or a civilian," I look at him for a moment, unsure on how to answer. I see that Shepard is looking at me, and so was everyone else, curious to see how I respond. I let out a sigh,

"How about I promise to explain on the Normandy, and we drop the subject for right now." Garrus looked displeased with the answer, but accepted it for now and Shepard motioned us forward and up the stairs to Udina's office. As we step through, Udina has his back to us.

"Your not making my job easy Shepard. Firefights in the wards. An assault on Chora's Den. I have half the mind to-"he stops mid sentence when he turns around and see's the group of mismatched people and races. "What's this?" Shepard looks to Tali and motions her forward.

"Your answer ambassador. Ms. Tali'Zorah here has evidence linking Saren to the attack on Eden Prime," Tali activated her omni-tool and explained how she received the data.

"I had just started my pilgrimage when I heard reports of Geth activity outside the veil. Since my people created them I was curious, so I tracked a patrol done on an uncharted world, and disabled one. Most of its programs were offline, but I salvaged something from there audio logs." She tapped a button twice and Saren's voice was heard, emitting from it.

"Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the conduit." Anderson looked thrilled, while Udina seemed to be in thought.

"That's him. That's Saren's voice. There's no way the Council can deny this." Tali raised her three fingered hand to stop the Captain.

"Wait, there's more." She tapped it twice again and a female voice was heard.

"And one step closer to the return of the reapers." Shepard looks startled when he hears this.

"The Reapers. I feel like I've heard that name before. What about you David? Any of that ring a bell?" I turn to look at him and nod my head in response. Tali deactivates her omni-tool and turns to look at me and Shepard.

"According to what I've gathered, the Reapers are an ancient race of synthetics that wiped out the Protheans 50,000 years ago," Anderson slams a fist into his palm,

"Whatever all this means, one thing is for sure. This evidence proves Saren's involvement with the Eden Prime attack." Udina perks up at this.

"The council is going to have a field day with this. Anderson, come with me, and Shepard, meet us at the Citadel Tower after you've recuperated yourselves." And with that, the ambassador left with Anderson in tow.

Wrex looked at Tali and then to Shepard.

"Shepard, I can agree about this human coming with us, but what about the Quarian," Realizing that no one else had seen Tali in the alley besides me, I look towards Shepard and speak before Tali does.

"Commander, I may not choose who joins the crew, but Tali handled herself pretty well in the alley, and she knows more than we do about the Geth." It was a partial lie, seeing how I knew more about the Geth than anyone else here, but I don't believe they would think I was sane after I tell them of my source of knowledge. Shepard looked at me then Tali, he then stuck his hand out,

"Welcome to the crew Tali." She looks at it then remembering shaking mine, she does so with his. She gives a thank you and our group departs. We walk down the stairs and Shepard walks towards the rapid transport terminal. I look at it with disgust for a moment before I grab his shoulder.

"Hey, Shepard, you do realize that the tower is quick walk in that direction right,"

"Yeah, but it'd be quicker to take a sky car wouldn't it,"

"That may be, but I think we should stretch our legs and hoof it there, anyone else with me." They all promptly nod and I grin and turn back to face Shepard. "Sorry Shepard, but you just got out voted." Shepard looked disappointed, but thankfully joined us in our walk to the tower.

Once in the elevator, we rode it to the top and walked off. We bounded up the stairs and approached Anderson who told us to hurry up and get up there. The recording was just ending as Shepard approached the podium. They looked at the group in surprise, seeing our squad of various races. Udina either ignored this or didn't notice, because he just pointed at the Council and shouted.

You wanted proof, well there it is." The Council looked at Udina and typed something into their terminals.

"Your evidence is indisputable ambassador, Saren will be stripped of his Spectres status immediately," the Asari councilor spoke. She looked down at us again, and for the briefest of moments, I could swear she was staring at me. "You have surrounded yourself with some impressive people Commander. Even a member of the dead," she states. I could feel the weight of all three of them staring at me. The Turian seemed to think for a moment, and so did the Salarian. Shepard and the others looked confused and looked at me as well.

It was then a memory flashed into my head. It wasn't one from before all this, but of the me from this world. I stood before the Council, no one else was in the room. Just the four of us.

"Lieutenant ******, you have been selected as a candidate for the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. If you are accepted as a member, then you will be your species first, and a sign as to how far your people have come. Do you accept the test you must take,"

"I do,"

"Then Spectre Alara M'ora will oversee your mission that will be assigned by us, if you succeed and she approves your execution of your mission, then you will be accepted." Then the memory stops.

I take a step back in attempt to avert there gazes, but it doesn't work. The Turian Councilor looks at me, anger clear on his face.

"Lieutenant, you have a lot of nerve returning here after what you did. The Turian was clearly displeased with whatever happened, but seeing how I don't remember I just roll with it and think of something to get the attention off of me. I put on my best poker face and step forward to the railing to confront them about whatever I did. I look at the Council, and from what I could tell the other two had no idea what he was mad about either.

"Councilor, I'm sincerely sorry for what happened, but I assure you what I did was necessary,"

"You call destroying an ancient artifact, and half a colony necessary," if I wasn't confused before, I sure was now. "You not only killed thousands of civilians, you also killed my son, and your lucky that there is a ten feet gap between us, because if it wasn't I would kill you were you-" his fit of rage was stopped by the Asari Councilor, who shot him a look that could turn anyone to stone. She regained her composure and looked down at me,

"I do hope you could explain yourself Lieutenant ." she asks, her voice neutral.

"I wish I could Councilor, and maybe I will but not today. Because right now we have a bigger problem than reopening old wounds," I step back and let Shepard take the stand once more. The Asari Councilor nodded in response, but the Turian glared at me through the entire thing. Captain Anderson motioned for me to step down and off the podium for a moment to speak to him. I nod my head as an answer and step down, Anderson close behind me.

"I have been meaning to talk with you. I looked you up in the Alliance network and found you posted as MIA, care to explain," I let out a sigh and look him in the face.

"I'm sorry Captain, but as you saw in my file, most of all the intel on me is covered in black ink. What I can tell you is that a couple years ago, after a mission I went on had gone south, I unofficially retired. That's all I can tell you." He looked displeased with my answer, but accepted it and we both walked back onto the podium, just as they began initiating Shepard into the Spectres. I mainly tuned out there whole speech and tried to ignore everyone's curious glances. I was snapped back into reality when the Asari Councilor speaks my name.

"Before we adjourn this meeting, Lieutenant ******, 8 years ago, you declined our offer to join the ranks of the Spectres. We ask if you would reconsider, seeing how you are serving with Commander Shepard and assisting with his investigation into Saren," the entire room grew silent in shock. I looked up to her and before I could speak, the Turian Councilor yelled out in outrage.

"No! I will not allow this! I can agree with Shepard becoming a Spectre, but not him." He practically spat out each word. The Asari Councilor looked at him with the same gaze as before, but this time he returned it with equal menace.

"Sparatus, calm down. Don't let anger cloud your judgment." The Salarian councilor yelled, surprising both Councilors. The Turian calmed down slightly, and the Asari turned her head to face me again.

"What do you say Lieutenenant, will you join the ranks of the Spectres and bring greater honor to your people." Now with the eyes of the galaxy upon me, I do the rational thing.

"Councilors, I accept your offer with great pride, and Councilor Sparatus, if I could go back and change what happened to your son, I would do it without blinking an eye, but if it brings you any peace, he died with honor." And with that I was in the Spectre and Sparatus' anger all but disappeared. I leave the tower as soon as they finish their speech and head back to the Normandy.

I wait outside the airlock of the ship. About an hour later, both Anderson and Udina walked off the elevator, followed by Shepard and the others. I turn my head to face them. None of them look at me though. Udina explains how the ship is being passed down to him and they give them the locations of the three places we need to go. We then enter the airlock and wait for it to finish its decontamination process.

We then walk aboard the ship and prepare to go our separate ways when Shepard orders us to the Comm. Room for debriefing and such. So we file in and take our seats as Shepard walks in. As soon as the door closed, I stood from my seat and walked up to Shepard.

"Shepard, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak for a moment and try to clear up some suspicion about me," Shepard looks at me for a moment then nods and takes his own seat. I move to the center of the room and prepare to tell my story. "As some of you know, my name is David ******. What all of you don't know is that I was a member of the Alliance military, one of the best. After several years of service I was requested to be transferred to N school, were they turn good soldiers into the best soldiers. After ten years of training there, I left as a ranking officer with a squad of other N7's. We were renown for our defense on Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz. Sadly, I lost my squad defending it, but it did catch the eye of the Council, who told me that I was a Spectre candidate. And if you want details of that, sorry. What happened then is something that I'm not going to talk about. Ever. Long story short after that I went back to the Alliance and after my last mission went south, I unofficially retired." I finish and take my seat.

Everyone was looking at me again, but I didn't care. All I cared about now was whether they believed it. Shepard stood and walked to the middle, to begin the debriefing.

"Alright, with that out of the way, let's begin the debriefing. We have three possible leads linking to Saren. The first is Feros. A couple days ago, we lost contact with the colony there. Their last report stated they were under Geth attack. Next up is Noveria. Reports say that Matriarch Benezia was spotted their and that she was heading to a remote location. Finally we have the Artemis Dau cluster, were Matriarch benezia's daughter was sighted out researching some old Prothean ruins. All attempts to contact the research team have failed so we presume the Geth are in that area. Any questions." When no one raised a hand, Shepard nodded. "Good, all non-human crew members are to seek out Navigator Pressley. He will give you a tour of the ship. Dismissed everyone except Lieutenant ******." The room cleared quickly, leaving only me and Shepard in the room. His face was hard to read but, I'd assume he was mad. "Why didn't you tell me you were military," I sigh and stand up, then walk toward him.

"Because Shepard, I made a mistake once, and it caused the death of thousands. After the mission failed, I discarded everything from my previous life after that. I did everything possible to put it all behind me. But somewhere along the line, I pissed off fate and it decided to throw me back into that life." I turn away from Shepard walk over to my chair to sit down. Shepards face was again unreadable, which annoyed me to no end, but if I had to guess, I'd say he was no longer angry. He took his seat across from me.

"So, we're the first human Spectres huh," I smirk at this and chuckle internally.

"Yeah, I guess we are." Shepard stands and walks to the door, but before he leaves he looks over his shoulder at me.

"Since we're both Spectres on the same mission, were do you think we should go first." I ponder on this for a second before deciding.

"I'd say we go after the Matriarch's daughter. If we get her, then we might find Benezia." Shepard nods and leaves without saying another word.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment the door closed behind Shepard, I released a sigh. I was hoping and praying to whatever supernatural being that the crew believed my story. As I left the Comm. Room, Shepard's voice was heard throughout the ship.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our order: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew, this mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now is our time to stand up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Travers, Saren's follows will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all… we will stop him!" And with that the crew screamed and hollered praise at the speech, and the once uneasy atmosphere was replaced by one of anticipation and excitement. I grunt in approval of his speech, then startled at the fact I grunted. **_I've never done that._** Shrugging off as a lack of sleep, I walk over to the door that led to the crew deck and pressed the access panel. The door slid open slowly, and Shepard came up behind me, his hand clasping my arm.

"Hello Lieutenant," he says in a voice of authority,

"hello Commander, and before you star peppering me with questions, I need to sleep, seeing how my last nap involved a brain hemorrhage and my shouting at the Council isn't helping my headache, so if you'll excuse me." Shepard's face looked slightly disappointed, but he nodded in understanding and walked past me when we reached the bottom of the stairs. I make a left once at the base of the stairs, and walk by the mess hall and Kaiden, who was once again making a pile of plates, and straight up to the sleeper pods. I select one on the far right that has my name labeled on its side. The pod soon closes, and oxygen is pumped in. All sounds of the ship are replaced with blessed silence and I felt my consciousness slip away. My eyes droop close as the hissing of the air seals lock, and blackness engulfs my vision.

I find myself in a similar white room as when I met the robot thing, only instead of it being there, the me that glowed blue stood there. Confused, I stood up and looked around, finding that I was indeed alone with the other me. His arms were crossed, and his face was blank, giving him an commanding look.

"Great now you're here. What do you want weakling," I look at him in shock, then rage after he insulted me.

"What do you mean weakling, we're the same person," the dopple-ganger frowned, and shook his head furiously.

"No we're not. You're from a different place, and I'm from here. What still confused? I'll put it in simple terms for your simple mind to comprehend," The room wavers, and we're standing on what I assume to be Mindoir. A little boy runs by us, screaming for help as three Batarians chase him, occasionally firing a shot at him. "This is me from my childhood while you lived your life playing games with our lives," the room wavers again, this time, an older looking boy was standing rigid tall, and giving a crisp salute to a man in military uniform. "This was my graduation ceremony, not yours, MINE," the other me spit each word at me, his face losing the cold look it had earlier, and was replaced by a similar look that Tevos gave Sparatus back at the tower.

Every inch of my body wanted to back away, but foolish pride kept me where I stood, bracing myself for the unholy wrath that was ensured. But the other me calms down, the room fades back to the white one from before, he looks at me, a look of sadness clear on his face. "I'm sorry…It's just… Well before you came here, I was a separate person. Someone with a life, but now I'm stuck with sharing this body with you," I give him an apologetic look and walk towards him, hand outstretched for him to grab and pull him up. Once on his feet I give his arm a meaningful grasp, and he returns it with equal meaning.

"I'm sorry I stole your life. I'm sorry that we share the same body, but you can't blame me for any of this. I don't even know why I'm here," the other me shook his head in disapproval.

"I don't either, also please refer to me as Alpha, feels kind of awkward not referring to each other with a name," I grin at this in which he returns.

"Ok Alpha, do you mind if I ask you questions now,"

"Not now, your pod's about to end its sleeping cycle, and if anyone asks questions about your past, just let me deal with it."

"What do-" the dream was fading. It was evident as his form disappeared. My eyes open, hissing white fumes are the first things I notice. Then the door opens alongside other pods, opening so that the people on the next shift replace those who were up previously. Releasing a yawn, I walk over to the mess to find both Chakwas and Joker sitting at the table, Kaiden was noticeably absent from his usual spot. I grab a bowl of… something. It was soupy and grey. The kind of thing you'd expect to find as military rations. I was curious what happened to the food Kaiden and I had eaten the other day, but hunger overtakes me and I move over to a mess table to eat.

The moment I start shoveling food into my throat, the other two at the table take notice of me. Chakwas smiled and Joker looked horrified. I stop eating the gruel and wave at them, then continue eating.

{Good god I've never seen someone eat that much} the voice in my head-

**_Wait, what the hell._**

{Do you really curse when you're thinking}

}Alpha? Is that you{

{No its Beta}

}…Is that sarcasm{

{Nah dip Sherlock}

}You mind telling me why and how you're doing this{

{We share a body that includes your mind}

}Ok then, this is totally not creepy. Do me a favor and don't go looking around in there{

{Too late. Oo what's this… Ok definitely goanna regret looking at that}

A dull pain snaps me back to reality, my bowl now empty and the other occupants of the table staring at me.

"Hello, Earth to Spectre, you in there," Joker says, a piece of civil ware was in his hand and prepared to throw it at me. As he does, my hand unconsciously snaps up, I catch the top of it and throw it back. It does cartwheels while sailing in the air, Joke just watches s it elegantly lands in the bowl in front of him. "Dang, that's impressive." Awe was present in his voice. I smirked at this remark and Chakwas was laughing like no tomorrow.

{You're welcome by the way}

}Welcome for what{

{Who do you think gave you those instincts and skills moron} What Alpha said makes sense but before I could mentally remark, I felt his influence fade. Just in time for me to catch another spoon thrown by Joker.

"So should we talk or should I just keep catching all the silver ware you insist on throwing to me," Joker smirks as he prepares his remark.

"I don't know, not every day that someone throws stuff at a Spectre and not get arrested for it," I laugh out loudly and Joker smirks again, and Chakwas has an amused look on her face from our back and forth banter. "I don't we've met, Mr.…."

"Everyone just calls me David, and you are," I already know his name, but since I shouldn't know that before actually meeting him, I play dumb.

"Me, well I'm not really anybody, except the best damn pilot in the Alliance navy." His grin showed confidence and I didn't intend on arguing with him. The shit he pulls off at the galactic core in ME2 is proof enough. "My names Jeff. But please, call me Joker, everyone else does,"

"So Joker, mind if I ask were everyone is," his smile fades slightly and Chakwas looks more serious.

"Shepard's down on the planet's surface with half of the ground team. The only people still here are Tali, and Ashley." Shock courses through my body but I hide it. If they were on the ground, they shouldn't look worried like this. Joker grimaces and Chakwas stand and walks away from the table, after saying goodbye and returning to the med-bay. She attempted a weak smile, but fear and worry radiated from her, cracking through her façade. "We lost contact with them 2 hours ago, she did say that we may lose radio contact, but it still worries us." I grimace internally and I think it broke through the wall I erected to hide such emotions, I confirm this when Joker's face softens. I had only seen Joker like this once. It was after ME3 when they hang ***SPOILER ALERT* **Shepard's name on the memorial wall.

I push the feeling off me as quickly as I can and stand up.

"Joker, get on the comm. and attempt to reestablish contact, and tell Tali and Ash to suit up and meet me down in the Cargo hold. And before you say anything, remember that I outrank you." Joker also stands, his grief and worry now replaced by a look of sheer determination. His hand shoots and salutes which I return.

"Aye aye sir. And David, bring em' back," I nod and attempt to contact Alpha.

}Hey lazy ass, wake up{ my head chilled and almost sent shivers down my spine as a presence enters my mind.

{You know, technically I can't sleep right}

}No time for technicalities, I need your help. Shepard and her team stopped reporting in{

{So. Didn't something like this happen in the game.}

}No. And that's what worries me.{

{…Ok what you need}

}I need armor and guns, as well as the password to your bank account}

{Uhh. Fine let's do this}

**1 HOUR LATER**

Ok that took longer than I thought, but now that all of that was out of the way, we could continue. I was able to get a spare piece of Onyx armor from the Quarter master and an Omni-tool, as well as the commander's old weapons. While I was suiting up. I realized I didn't even have an actual plan. But then I saw the spot where the Mako used to be, go down and come back up with a new one. I strap a Predator pistol to my waist, and secure the Lancer assault rifle on my back. I put my helmet on and it goes through a scanning sequence then a HUD appears on the visor.

I turn around to see both Tali and Ashley standing beside the Mako, waiting a debrief. I move quickly over to them and motion for them to jump into the Mako. Once we are all piled inside I assign roles.

"Ashley, take the gunner's seat. Tali, man the nav station and keep an eye on our systems, I'll drive," both hurry to their appropriate seats and I take the drivers. At first I was nervous, seeing how everything was 200 years more advanced than the old cars and trucks that I'd drive, but surprisingly the Mako had the same layout of a Truck you'd drive stick with. Once in my seat, a light over the Normandy cargo-bay doors activates. It's the red light most commonly used when signaling whether to jump or not. It was currently red and Joker told us we were 5 minutes out to where Shepards signal was last heard. I open the squad communication channel to brief my 2 passengers.

"Ok you two, listen up. Approximately 3 hours ago all signal with Shepard and his squad was lost, so we're going down to see if we can find them and pull their asses out of the damn fire, literally seeing how Therum is a volcanic world," a nervous chuckle was broadcasted from the comm. by the two at my attempt to brighten the mood. "From what the scanners can gather, the group entered a Prothean ruin that was most likely unstable and is buried beneath ash collected from thousands of years of wind. Geth presence was also strong in this area, so we are going to look there first. Any questions," the comm. stayed quiet. "Good, now let's roll." My foot smashes down on the accelerator the moment the light flashes green and the Mako goes soaring out the cargo bay doors. Before all this, Alpha gave me a crash course on how to make an orbital drop inside a Mako, but right now all I could think about is how awesome it feels. In the comm., Tali was repeatedly saying 'Oh keelah, ancestors save me' and from Ashley's end she was saying a prayer, while I'm screaming at the top of my lungs.

"Woo hoo. Yeah baby this is it. Woo hoo," I scream and the two in the back scream curses at me seconds before we touchdown. And when we do, I could hear the two bang against something as I activate the thrusters in reverse to slow our descent.

"God damn it David, I just bumped my head against the bulkhead," I chuckle at her complaint and send a new remark her way,

"Quit your whining your wearing a helmet," she growls over the comm.

"You wanna bet Lt."

"…Previous comment retracted." I switch my comm. channel to hook up with the Normandy. "Normandy, this is ground team. We reached the surface and I'm issuing a comm. silence, don't want to give the Geth any bigger of an advantage. Silence is broken in an hour, if you get no response contact the Alliance."

"Roger that ground team, happy hunting." Joker cuts the comm. and I gun the engine, attempting to reach Shepard's last known whereabouts. We ironically started at the same spot in the game and you could see that Shepard deployed here to. Mako tracks raced along the edges of the river of lava and Geth parts were strewn about everywhere.

"They most certainly went this way, I can recognize Shepard's driving anywhere," Tali comments, sending me and Ashley into fits of laughter. Once it died down we followed the trail of Geth bodies up to the check point where both gates were open and allowed us to drive through. Once through we lost the trail but soon realized why when we saw a beat up Mako and a lot of blast marks. But more notably was the Geth drop ship, hovering above the area that you use to get into the ruins.

{Ok, I call bull shit on this}

}What do you mean{

{The drop ship is positioned were it can easily shoot you guys before you ran a yard, I'm guessing that's what happened to the others.} As I surveyed I the area, what Alpha assumed was most probably correct. The ship most likely caught them off guard, hence the damaged and abandoned Mako.

"Ashley, paint that mofo up with the cannon, Tali, keep the shields up," they both gave their affirmatives, and they Mako shuddered as Ash let lose a slug of mass accelerated metal right at the drop ship, causing it to attempt return fire. The shields took several direct hits, and sparks flared inside the cockpit and jerked the wheel from my hands. The shields dropped to 20% and we lost controls in 3 of the four wheels. Thankfully, after rounds from Ash, the ship started exploding, right as the Mako's eezo core was overheating. "Bail, bail, get the hell out of this thing," I pull a emergency ejection lever, and the others do the same. The canopy pops off with a hiss and our seats go flying.

As we ascend to 110 feet, mass effect generators at the bottom of the seats, correct our position and slows our descent. Ashley and Tali land correctly, while my seat is upside down.

{Haha, Dumb ass}

}Shut up{

{Hey you're the idiot that landed upside down}

Grumbling in pain and annoyance, I shove Alpha from my mind and cut the safety harness. I collapsed face first into the ground, making me more embarrassed than before. The muffled laughter from my two other squad mates caused my face to turn bright red, but the helmet concealed this and the two where none the wiser. I stand upright and brush the red dust off the black surface of my armor.

"Alright that's enough standing around. Hustle up that hill, double time people," I order, my feet shooting up the hill, the other two were just behind me as we raced up the hill and past several sniper towers and crates. Geth corpses and blast marks dotting the surface around them causing a collective sigh from the group. Geth bodies mean that the others survived past this point and that they weren't that injured. "Alright, they made it this far," I mumble. We hoof it up the hill and appear in front of the crashed drop ship. Blue flames lick the red surface and badly damaged Geth unit's crawled from various parts of it. Ashley and Tali raise their respective weapons and prepare to shoot them, but I raise an arm to stop them. "Lower your weapons, they can't harm us," Ashley looks at me dumfounded.

"Lt, these Geth could report back to Saren, warn him we're after him. Besides the fact that there Geth-"

"That's enough Gunnery Chief!" I shout and rear back on her, my face contorted into anger. "If Saren finds out we're after him, good. He should be given a fair chance before we come and give him the slow death he deserves." My anger subsided and Ashley lowered her weapon, Tali's shotgun lingered for a moment, before she as well lowered it, her face unreadable behind the mask. "Good, looks the mine entrance is that way, let's go get Shep back." I say jerking my thumb in the direction of the entrance.

GETH TROOPER POV

The organic raised his arm and stopped the creator and human from destroying this platform, then moved inside the ruins. We observed as the unusual organic and company rushed into the ruins, never once looking back at us as we applied self repairs and rearmed ourselves. And as we stood at %60 opperational status and prepared to advance. But we did not advance, instead we shut down to run repairs and collect a consencus on what to do next. Do we give up on the old machines and give up to there promises, or obey there commands and attack.

* * *

**There we go. Another chapter done and let me say it was a pain to write this cuz boy was that a writers block to break through. Anywho {****ß-when did I start that) a new poll will be up on what You guys want the Geth to do. And remember that your choice will be vital for the coming chapters.**


End file.
